The Potter's wheel keeps turning, finding in the lump of clay that treasure which awaits within. Remember that each of us is an unfinished work, and that our life journeys are shaping us on the Potter's wheel. Re-discover how we are treasure in clay jars!
There comes a point when many of us would give up and call it a day. Indeed, sometimes we should because we're unprepared or unready, having more to learn, more tools to acquire, before we can gain what we seek to accomplish.
Jeremiah 18 is an object lesson directed by God for the prophet. Going to the potter's house, Jeremiah sees how the potter deals with flaws and failures in the work-in-progress; pick up the material, slam it down, and start anew. God relates how this reflects what God does with nation-states, acting like a potter in deciding whether what has been created is worth continuing or if it needs to start over.
Paul uses the same imagery in his second letter to the church in Corinth. The fractious faith community there continues to be problematic. It seems that they have been visited by Gnostics, people who believe that there are sacred secrets that can progressively bring the faithful to ascend the ranks of the heavens to the highest level. Paul is masterful when he uses the image of himself and his people as treasure in clay jars.
Find out what it means for us, and for those we might encounter in ministry, that the Potter's wheel continues to turn and create new life for those who remain moist and pliant to the Potter's touch. Watch the sermon video below.
There comes a point when many of us would give up and call it a day. Indeed, sometimes we should because we're unprepared or unready, having more to learn, more tools to acquire, before we can gain what we seek to accomplish.
Jeremiah 18 is an object lesson directed by God for the prophet. Going to the potter's house, Jeremiah sees how the potter deals with flaws and failures in the work-in-progress; pick up the material, slam it down, and start anew. God relates how this reflects what God does with nation-states, acting like a potter in deciding whether what has been created is worth continuing or if it needs to start over.
Paul uses the same imagery in his second letter to the church in Corinth. The fractious faith community there continues to be problematic. It seems that they have been visited by Gnostics, people who believe that there are sacred secrets that can progressively bring the faithful to ascend the ranks of the heavens to the highest level. Paul is masterful when he uses the image of himself and his people as treasure in clay jars.
Find out what it means for us, and for those we might encounter in ministry, that the Potter's wheel continues to turn and create new life for those who remain moist and pliant to the Potter's touch. Watch the sermon video below.
| 09-08-19-sermon.mp3 |
| 09-08-19-ff-answers.pdf |
| 09-08-19-treasure_in_clay_jars.pdf |